Dopamine and dopamine receptor agonists were found to inhibit adenylate cyclase activity dose-dependently in a neuroblastoma X Chinese hamster brain explant hybrid cell line NCB-20. Apomorphine (with an IC50 value of 10 nM) was the most effective inhibitor, followed by 2-amino-6,7-dihydroxy-1,2,3,4-tetrahydronaphthaline (ADTN), dopamine, and N-dipropyldopamine. The inhibition was potently reversed by sulpiride, butaclamol, and flupenthixol in a stereospecific manner, but was unaffected by yohimbine, except at high concentrations. Clonidine also inhibited adenylate cyclase activity in these cells and this was reversed by the alpha 2-adrenoreceptor antagonist yohimbine, but not by sulpiride. [D-Ala2, D-Leu5] Enkephalin inhibited adenylate cyclase activity in NCB-20 cells at nanomolar concentrations; this was reversed by naloxone. All three inhibitory neurotransmitters were able to reverse the stimulation of cyclic AMP synthesis by serotonin or prostaglandin E1. The dopamine receptor that modulates cyclic AMP synthesis in NCB-20 cells is pharmacologically quite distinct from a high-affinity spiperone binding site identified in these cells, but shows the pharmacologic specificity of the "D2" receptor previously described in mammalian brain.